Door or closure



y 1952 G. E. OHEARN, JR, ET AL 2,598,419

DOOR OR CLOSURE Filed June 22, 1950 ATTGAA/fy Patented May 27, 1952 ?,98,413 noonon oLosUnE G er efi- QHnr th nd Hwwash Application June. 22,1950,- SerialNo. 169.553,.

1 Gi i!"- invariable relates; o a we Premedfolding-sliding door or closure-for use in any. kindof; building, but particularly in homes for outside or inside doors, for closets, cupboards, etc.

A conventional swinging door when opened takes up space along the wall against which it swings equal to the Width of the door,.and this requires the particular placing of furniture either permanent or temporary, windows, bookcases, chairs, etc., to accommodate the open-position of the door, thus losing wall space in the room; n in an ca es doo s h ch a hinged i cent-each other will engage and interferewith each other at times becoming inconvenient to open and close in the usual manner.

This invention is directed to a door whichobviates these objections and when open does not lie againstthe-wall, and extends out in such a way as to fail to take up the space which would be taken up by a conventional door. In the case where two regular swinging doors near each other interfere, the new door makes the door space required so small that the interference is done away with the invention includes the provision of a new type folding-swinging door comprising a plurality of articulated panels, one end panel being hinged in the conventional manner to the door jamb and having hinged thereto another panel, there being a door knob adjacent the hinge line of these two panels so that upon pulling of the knob, the two panels will tend to converge, swinging together and opening the door, the second panel having hinged to its free edge a third panel, the latter being provided with means restraining the motion thereof to sliding along a straight line, so that when the first two panels are swung to open, the third panel being constrained to a straight line movement, moves from adjacent the door jamb at one side thereof to a position adjacent the opposite door jamb to which the first panel is hinged; the first and second panels extending outwardly from the Wall so as to leave clear the wall space taken up by a conventional door.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which A Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of the new door showing the same closed;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the new door partly open, parts being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, parts being broken away;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, parts being broken away;

e s- 5 i ar ar i w -i hs i ;9? h 3li tq9 hen l e and- Fig. 6 is an enlarged section online 6, 5 of Fig. 5.

As shown in the drawings, thereference .numeral l0 indicates generally the lefthandup-r right of the doorsash or jamb; the reference numeral l2 indicates the horizontal header atthe top of the jamb, and the referencenumeral It indicates the righthand upright forming the re,-

mainder of the door jamb. The usualcleats .atlfi,

is and20 may be applied on these parts as shown.

The new door. comprises essentially panels. 22, 24 and 26, panel 26 preferably being narrower;

than the other two. Panel 22 is-hinged t the door jamb l0 inthe usual manner asfl-by hinges 28 which may be conventional so that thispanek swings toward thel observer ,atthe righthand edge'thereof in Figs. 1 and 2, being shown as partly open in Fig. 2. When in the Fig. 1 position, it may abut the cleat 20.

Panel 24 is hinged to panel 22 by similar hinges 39 which are at the opposite side of the door so as to allow panel 24 to move outwardly toward the observer at the lefthand edge thereof when a knob such as that at 32 is pulled.

Panel 26 is hinged to the free edge of panel 24 by conventional hinges 34 which are applied like those at 28. Panel 26 has a free edge at 36. When the entire door is closed, panel 26 will abut the cleat l8 as well as the cleat 20.

Cleat 20 is provided with a depending flange generally indicated at 38 and which may be one flange of an angle iron or similar strip. This flange depends from the cleat 20 and is located in a vertical relation. As shown clearly in Fig. 6, the flange 38 is spaced from the edge of cleat 20 that the panel 26 abuts the latter.

The rear side of panel 26 is provided with a bracket 40 on which are mounted a pair of pins 42. These pins are preferably adjustable to and from each other so as to vary the space therebetween and each pin carries at its open end a ball bearing or the like wheel 44, these wheels bearing on flange 38, one at either side thereof.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the door is closed and any conventional type of latch may be used to hold the panels 22 and 24 against opening. However, when this catch is released and the knob 32 pulled, panels 22 and 24 will start to converge as shown inFigs. 2 and 4, but their relation is completely predetermined by the rollers 44. That is, these rollers prevent panel 26 from moving in any way except sliding sideways in its own plane, .and thus the relationship between the three panels is always completely controlled. When the panels have reached the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, the door is completely open and it will be seen that the panels 22 and 24 do not occupy any wall space at all, but extend out into the room by a distance which is less than half of the width of a conventional door the width of the panel 35 diminishing this distance.

It is to be noted that hinges 30 open oppositely from hinges 28 and 34 and panels 22 and 24 must be of the same width, it being preferred that panel 26 be narrower than the other sections. The door may be made in any size, thickness, style or material desirable and it may be installed in either new or old houses without any special headers over the door. The new door may be used inside or outside, for closet doors, cupboards, or for any other use.

The new folding-sliding door saves space as it requires no wall space at either side of the door but extends outwardly therefrom as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4. It extends out into the room a distance less than half of the width of a conventional swinging door and it is practical and easy to operate, saving wall space, room space, etc.

The double roller construction 44 is not completely necessary to the invention, inasmuch as the same could be made with a single roller or, in fact, any kind of guide which could be positioned between a pair of strips or a U-shaped strip; and there are many other ways that this guide construction could be designed to accomplish the same result. We do not desire to be limited to the specific guide construction shown. and any convenient or workable type of guide may be made and come within the limits of the invention.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but what we claim is:

A door comprising a door frame, a header thereon, a cleat depending'from the header, a door jamb at each side thereof, a panel having a width less than one-half the distance between jambs, means hinging the panel to a jamb, a second panel having a width similar to that of the first panel, means hinging the second panel to the first panel, a narrow third panel, means hinging the third panel to the second panel, a track depending from the cleat and track interengaging means on the third panel to guide the latter in a straight line motion only, the three panels having the top edges thereof in overlapping juxtaposition to the cleat when the door is in closed position.

GEORGE E. OHEARN, JR.

HAZEL D. HACH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,163,418 Kohler Dec. 7, 1915 1,868,233 Hungerford July 19,1932

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 251,201 Great Britain Apr. 29, 1926 625,297 France Apr. 23, 1927 

